Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers: Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pie, Tarts, Muffins and Scones.  Debby Maugans.  Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.  $21.99.  (340p)  ISBN: 978-0-312-61224-5

The best things come in small packages.  In the case of “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers,” the best chocolate things come in small packages.  Author Debby Maugans perfected the art of baking for one or two people in her first book, “Small Batch Baking.”  Realizing that the average recipe produced a larger quantity of the end product than a single person, or couple may want to eat, or be able to finish she revised recipes so that the serving sizes were more appropriate for one or two people.  A pretty smart idea in and of itself.

Being the professed chocoholic she is, Maugans saw a need for a small-batch cookbook for chocolate lovers.  And thank goodness she did!  In the introduction to the book she explains that her go-to dessert choice is always something with chocolate.  I couldn’t agree more.  Out at a restaurant I always go for chocolate desserts over any others.  Often I won’t have a dessert if there is nothing with chocolate in it.  I, too, love chocolate and I know that I’m not alone.  This is a book I’ll use often.

Smartly so, Maugans begins the book with a chapter called “Small-Batch Chocolate Baking Know-How” which explains everything you need to know to start small-batch baking.  From the equipment needed, to ingredients and measuring techniques, to storage of ingredients, it’s all spelled out.  Then the fun really begins.  The chapters unfold from cakes and cupcakes; to pies, tarts, and cheesecakes; to puddings and soufflés; to muffins, scones, shortcakes, and loaves; to desserts that are “better with chocolate”; to holiday desserts, and finally liquid pleasures.  I’d say the gamut of possibilities is well-covered.  I knew Maugans was a serious chocolate lover in the chapter titled “Better with Chocolate” in which she takes desserts that are normally not made with chocolate and adds it.  Cinnamon rolls with chocolate rolled up with the nuts and cinnamon sugar.  Baklava with chocolate in the nut filling.

A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is worth its weight in gold — I mean, chocolate.  Maugans’ recipe for “Simply the Best Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies” is so good it might be the best small or large batch recipe around.  Soft, gooey, super-chocolatey deliciousness, (yield 8 cookies).   And I learned not to dip the measuring cup into the flour canister but to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.  I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.  Other recipes I tried and loved were Classic Chocolate Cake, (yield 2 cakes, or 4 cupcakes); Chocolate Decadence Cheesecakes (yield 2 cheesecakes); Ultimate Brownies (yield 3 brownies), and Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread (Maugans is right, chocolate added to banana bread is a revelation) (yield 1 loaf, 4 or 5 slices).  There are plenty more I want to try including several recipes for ice cream cakes.  One comment re the yields, Maugans uses recycled tin cans such as 8 oz., 14.5 oz., and 15 oz. tomato sauce, or bean cans in the cakes recipes hence the yield of 2 small, single-serving sized cakes.  She has a few other tricks like this to make small-batch baking work.

If you live alone, or are a couple, and don’t want to make desserts that yield enough for a family of six — and you love chocolate — then “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers” is for you.  Actually, I’d say it’s for anyone who wants to reduce the size of their desserts, or dessert intake.  With only eight chocolate chip cookies there will be none leftover to tempt a middle-of-the-night craving.

Happy small-batch baking!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Return of the Neighborhood Butcher.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

Sean Sullivan, author of Spectacularly Delicious.

New York-based food blogger, Sean Sullivan writes the food blog Spectacularly Delicious.  Sean can really cook.  No, I mean REALLY cook.  He cans; he makes jams, jellies, preserves, and chutneys; he bakes; he makes sausages from scratch; he goes out in the morning on Long Island and forages for sea beans, or whitebait and then serves them that night.  Together if he can.  At a dinner party for ten.  Sean is a self-taught cook.  And his enthusiasm for cooking, eating and food is infectious.  One of the many pleasures I’ve had since starting this blog has been meeting new and interesting people.  Sean is among that group.  We met this past August in Seattle at the International Food Bloggers Conference.  Once he introduced himself that was it.  Friends for life.

I love his blog.  He searches for, and finds the most retro, cool and interesting recipes that he can.  Most of the time he’ll take a classic, or even one that never made it to classic status, and put his own spin on it.  One never quite knows what each new blog post will bring.  As Sean states so well: “The mission of Spectacularly Delicious is to share my life long collection of show-stopping recipes and culinary presentations that will amaze and astound.”  Sean sees dinner as theater and entertain he does.

He Had Me at Pomegranates

I think it was last fall when Sean wrote a blog post titled “A Spectacular Celebration of Pomegranates!“  The POM people asked Sean to throw a dinner party using pomegranates.  So not only does he create a pomegranate centric menu, he creates this amazing pomegranate centerpiece, and records a step-by-step instructional video that he posts on You Tube.  I am stopping you right here, dear reader.  You have to watch Sean make this centerpiece before reading on: How To Make A Pomegranate Centerpiece.   I mean I can cook just fine; I throw a pretty mean dinner party but whip up a center piece that easily?  I don’t think so.

Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

The Spectacular Origins

Sean grew up with four brothers in an Irish Catholic household in St. Louis, Missouri.  He tells a story of how his mother made a deal with the milkman who helped her get a cafeteria-style stainless steel dispenser that held five gallons of milk supplying the five growing boys with cold milk on tap.  Sean’s parents loved to entertain and did so on a grand scale, (clam bakes, pig roasts, a nine foot pizza once), and it rubbed off on all the boys.  When Sean was in college he started cooking for himself, poorly at first.  While working in restaurants as a student, and for New York City caterers after college, his food interests escalated and his cooking skills improved.  As a young man Sean worked in entertainment traveling to Japan, Mexico and Europe where he picked up more recipes, and cooking tips.  His home-canning passion began when he started frequenting the Union Square Farmers’ Market in Manhattan.  He currently holds a marketing position with House Beautiful which also provides material for his cooking interests.

St. Patrick's Day sausages by Sean Sullivan. Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

Liberace, Elvis, Phyllis Diller, and The Famous Airline Cookbook

Sean is a prolific blogger posting on average twice a week.  Each post has a nice often very funny story and always includes a recipe.  He spends his weekends at his Long Island house cooking, photographing and videotaping the upcoming week’s recipes.  Often a dinner party is thrown.  His partner Steve assists as sous-chef, videographer and official taster.  There are many posts I’ve enjoyed reading but the Qantas Barramundi Macadamia: Gourmet Recipe post really made me giggle because it’s inspired by “The Famous Airline Cookbook.”  Sean found this cookbook full of recipes from the world’s airlines.  I actually do remember when airline food wasn’t horrible with Air France being more than edible.  To me the book and the recipe sums up what Sean does so well.  Finding the old, retro, très chic foods of bygone days brushing them off then adding a new patina to them.  What could be more fun that that?

Liberace's Nusstorte by Sean Sullivan. Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

Liberace cooked!  Who knew?  He also wrote cookbooks: “Liberace Cooks! Recipes from His Seven Dining Rooms.”  In a recent blog post Sean re-purposes Liberace’s Scampi Prosciutto.  How ’50s Las Vegas does that sound? In Sean’s version he uses German speck instead of prosciutto, and serves it with couscous instead of egg noodles.  The giggle to this post is the You Tube video Sean tacks on to the end: Liberace and Phyllis Diller on The Liberace Show from 1969.  For the Elvis connection Sean writes about a young Alabama entrepreneur who came up with Fat Elvis Ice Cream which contains bananas, bacon, brown sugar and peanut butter.

I always learn something new with each Spectacularly Delicious post whether it be a tidbit of gossip, a cookbook I’ve never heard of, or how to cook, can, or preserve an unfamiliar ingredient.  Spectacularly Delicious is a swell read, Sean is an accomplished cook and raconteur, and a delightful friend.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#2 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors.  Gena Knox.  Gena Knox Media.  $34.95.  (252p)  ISBN: 978-0-615-37440-6

Modern Southern is a bit of an oxymoron.  Anything “Southern” tends to have old-fashioned built into it.  Gena Knox, however, embodies “modern Southern,” and her new cookbook “Southern My Way” echoes that.  I mean look at that cover photo.  Well-dressed, coiffed and poised.  Modern Southern!  Modernity aside her cookbook covers all the Southern classics albeit often updated.  Which I think is nice.  Too many Southern cookbooks tend to stick to the tried-and-true, the old standbys that everyone is used to.

Knox is a native of a small town in South Georgia.  She started helping her mother in the kitchen at a young age.  She grew up cooking with fruits and vegetables out of the family’s garden, or from local farms and farmers.  Home cooking was the norm for the area.  “Southern My Way” is her answer to her upbringing: a compilation of traditional Southern dishes updated with a lighter, healthier approach with a focus on using local ingredients.  In fact, cleverly interspersed throughout the book are one to two page breakaways that highlight a local artisan, farmer, or purveyor like for instance the pages on Ted Dennard’s Savannah Bee Company, a small artisan honey company.  As I read through the book I liked more and more that Knox was hitting all the 100 miles touchstones.

Both the cookbook’s design and layout are unpretentious yet friendly, easy to use, interesting to read with lots of full-page color photographs throughout.  The recipes are easy to follow; one feature that I appreciated is how she breaks up the recipe instructions into sections: first. next. and last.  First do this, next do that, and lastly do this.  I’d like to see more cookbooks use this formula.  I’m a big fan of deviled eggs so one of the first recipes I tried was Deviled Eggs, Bloody Mary-Style.  These have sun-dried tomatoes in them.  Brilliant idea.  I love onions.  The Vidalia Onion Soup was so easy to make and so good.  Meatloaf can either be really bad or really amazing.  Knox’s Classic Meatloaf was the latter.  To keep things on the healthier side the recipe calls for lean ground beef or sirloin.  Another main course I made was Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Vegetables; a one dish meal using a cast iron skillet.  It worked very well and was a big success at the dinner table.  The book has recipes for many of the Southern standards we all expect: collard greens, grits, cornbread, baked beans, okra — but in most cases Knox reworks the recipe to make it lighter and healthier.

If you’re a fan of Southern cooking, enjoy a little Southern food history mixed up with information on local, Southern purveyors and artisans, this is your book.  A true gem of a Southern cookbook.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#2 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

#3 – Saturday, April 23, 2011, 11:00 am to 6 pm, Tillamook Cheese sponsors the 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Go to http://grilledcheeseinvitational.com/ for more details, and to learn how you can win a trip for two to the invitational by submitting a video showing how you make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.  Happy Grilled Cheese Month!

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  *A post on New York food blogger Sean Sullivan of Spectacularly Delicious.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Image from iStockphoto.com

Once upon a time I was a line cook.  I worked my ass off.  And I really learned how to cook.  The place was called “Sourdough Jack’s.”  It was in Santa Rosa, California.  The year was 1978.  I was 19 years old and I had no prior restaurant experience aside from a summer job at a Jack in the Box.  The year before I had worked for a French couple in rural France cooking, cleaning and babysitting.  At the point I started at “Sourdough Jack’s” I was a self-taught cook.  Six months later when I left the restaurant to go to cooking school in San Francisco I was head line cook.  I knew my way around a professional kitchen.  I was good at my job.  I could measure the temperature of meat (rare, medium rare, well-done) by touch.  I knew when a piece of fish was cooked by sight.  I managed the tickets and the other cooks on a busy night without losing it.

“Sourdough Jack’s” was a seafood restaurant and extremely busy.  Each Friday and Saturday night we were “in the weeds” to use restaurant parlance from opening to last ticket.  Sue, the kitchen manager, took me under her wing.  She taught me what she knew.  There was no real chef; just Sue and us line cooks, and we did it all.   The prep, the cooking, the breaking down: everything.  Sue taught me how to cook large volumes of food.  The restaurant was known for two things: clam chowder, and homemade sourdough bread.  I became a master at making huge quantities of both.  Each table was given a hot just-out-of-the oven loaf of sourdough bread as soon as they were seated.  Before service I made vast amounts of clam chowder in huge, commercial soup cauldrons.  I also half-baked enough sourdough bread to get us through service.  I oversaw vegetable and salad prep.  It was exciting, and I loved every minute of it.

We were not cooking food that would have won any prizes.  I’m quite sure that now after years of cooking with, and eating  food made by the best chefs around I’d be appalled by it.  At the time it fit a need.  It was before the food revolution hit areas outside of large cities.  Our patrons were happy to get a well-prepared piece of fish, or a steak, a salad or clam chowder and our signature sourdough bread.  Jack, the owner, understood his business model well, and his restaurant was a success for a number of years.

Sue and her boyfriend at their bakery in Washington state, circa 1979.

Sue left shortly after I did to open a bakery in Washington state.  Her first love was bread and baking.  If I recall correctly the sourdough bread recipe we used was hers.  I lost touch with Sue and the other guys I worked the line with.  Like every restaurant I’ve ever worked in, we were a little family as short-lived as it was.  We cooked our asses off at work, we went out for food together after service ended, and we socialized together on our days off.  Sourdough Jack’s was the beginning of my career in food; granted one where I hopscotched around, left and returned to it, but a glorious start none the less.

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  My memories of Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

The Good Neighbor Cookbook: 125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Surprise and Satisfy the New Moms, New Neighbors, Recuperation Friends, Community-Meeting Members, Book Club cohorts, and Block Party Pals in Your Life!  Sara Quessenberry and Suzanne Schlosberg.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99.  (208p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9355-4

Neighborliness is seemingly a lot art to most of us.   A cookbook to help those acts of kindness along is most welcome.  “The Good Neighbor Cookbook” is just that.  (The title really explains exactly what the book is about!)  This is a more updated version of what our mothers may have referred to on good-neighbor occasions; books like Betty Crocker and Good Housekeeping.  This cookbook is chock full of modern recipe suggestions specifically geared to the need at hand: the birth of a child; an illness; a new neighbor; block parties and barbecues; community, religious and business gatherings; book clubs; condolences.  Each section offers recipes for that specific act of neighborliness.  Additionally, there are tips for preparing food ahead, and how to package and transport it, all geared toward making it as easy as possible on the recipients.  To welcome a new neighbor, the authors suggest including a list of neighborhood ‘best local picks’; a personal list of favorite neighborhood businesses like dry cleaners, dog groomers, farmers’ markets, restaurants, doctors offices, and so on.

The modern quotient of this cookbook is the way the authors invoke the use of high-quality, fresh ingredients whenever possible.  The ingredients lists include  such as items as fresh thyme, arugula, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables (versus frozen or canned), fresh-squeezed juices, among others.  Care has been taken to make dishes both tasteful and healthful.  There are recipes and suggestions for preparing something at the last minute, for large groups, and a great idea called the ‘meal train.’  A ‘meal train’ involves using a free online invitation service like Evite.com to reach out to a group of friends or neighbors to make daily, twice a week, or weekly meal deliveries to a family welcoming a newborn, experiencing a long-term illness, or a suffering a recent death.  Contributors sign up for specific dates, and post comments indicating the dish they’ll prepare thereby spreading the good neighborliness around, and offering ongoing assistance.

To spread the good-neighbor word further, authors Quessenberry and Schlosberg have created a blog, The Good Neighbor Cookbook where readers can find recipes organized by occasion, and fun weekly features like ‘Meet This Grateful Neighbor,’ and ‘Meet This Good Neighbor Cook’ in which readers share their personal, good-neighbor stories, recipes, tips, cooking occasions and more.

“The Good Neighbor Cookbook” will come in handy for anyone wanting to make that neighborly gesture of kindness.  Whether looking for inspiration, or for last-minute ideas, this cookbook has it all.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1  – The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal (wonderful warm weather the past few days) and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

.2 miles, about 59 seconds by car, or 5 minutes on foot from my home in Atwater Village.

In many places in the world a bakery is often the nexus of a neighborhood.  A place where the locals meet to buy baked goods and bread.  Bread, the so-called ’staff of life,’ is inexpensive nourishment to many people.  Slowly but surely The Village Bakery and Cafe has become the nexus of our Atwater Village neighborhood.  Much like their sisters in Europe, it has a walk up counter with a shelf of various types of bread behind.  When I go in and see the stacks of freshly baked baguettes it feels a bit like it did when I bought the daily loaf while living in France.  The difference here is you can also order coffee, a house-made pastry, breakfast or lunch, then sit and WiFi it up for as long as you want.   Since it’s located very close to the horse stables and riding schools along the Los Angeles River, I’ve seen more than a patron or two wearing English riding boots and jodphurs as well as the occasional cowboy boots.  A bit of local neighborhood color.

Owner Barbara Monderine had a successful career in the music business before becoming a baker and founding co-owner of Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock.  From there she left to buy the Villa Rosa Italian Bakery, a wholesale bakery located in Arcadia, California.  At Villa Rosa she perfected a line of Italian cookies and pastries including an old Sicilian cannoli shell recipe that she inherited from the previous Villa Rosa owners.  She now sells the cannoli shells wholesale along with other baked goods from The Village Bakery and Cafe.

The Village Bakery and Cafe prides itself on selling artisanal breads baked daily, as well as pastries, pies and other desserts made from all natural ingredients.  The menu items are made using fresh, farmers’ market fruits and vegetables.  One of my favorite dishes is the individual chicken pot pies.  When I see them in the case I buy several to take home and freeze.  Voila, a simple meal after thirty minutes in the oven.  I often go to grab coffee and a sweet, for brunch or a quick lunch, or to buy a loaf of the amazing bread.

It seems I am not the only person to favor The Village Bakery and Cafe; while reading up to write this post I noticed on the bakery’s Facebook page this comment:  ‘The Grey’s Anatomy writing staff LOVES The Village!’  I’m going to have to take a closer look at all those people staring at computer screens next time I go in.  I didn’t know the place had gone Hollywood.

The Village Bakery and Cafe, 3119 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90039, 323-662-8600 & http://www.thevillagebakeryandcafe.com/

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1 – Thursday, February 3, 2011, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. ~ A Tasting Dinner at Mo-Chica with Live Music by Chachaca Nova – acclaimed Los Angeles Peruvian restaurant holds its 17th tasting dinner with music by the bossa nova group Chachaca Nova featuring our very own food blogger Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA on saxophone!  Cost $40.  Make reservations at Mo-Chica ~ http://mo-chica.com/

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ ‘Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst’ by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective. Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Biscotti: Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, Rome Sustainable Food Project.  Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.  The Little Bookroom.  $18.95  (136p)  ISBN: 978-1-892145-89-5

Biscotti comes from the Latin word biscoctus meaning ‘twice cooked, or baked.’  Baking them twice makes them dry, so they’re easy to store for long periods of time.  This was highly advantageous at one point in time.   Twice-baked breads were useful during long journeys and wars, and were a staple food of the Roman legion.  Now, it’s simply a lovely left-over result of the original recipe that we’re still enjoying today.  From the kitchens of the American Academy in Rome, ‘Biscotti’ is a very special cookbook, a small love letter to one of Italy’s most famous sweets.

The book is the first in a series of small hardcover cookbooks on single subjects to be published by the American Academy in Rome in conjunction with the Rome Sustainable Food Project, a program devoted to providing organic, local and sustainable meals for the community of artists who work and study at the AAR.  Author, Mona Talbott is the American born, Chez Panisse-trained Executive Chef who oversees the kitchens of the Academy.  Alice Waters is also part of the collaborative dining program advising on menus, and food choices.  The program was first implemented in 2007 when the Academy remodeled and revamped the AAR kitchens.  The Rome Sustainable Food Project facilitates the AAR’s move towards sustainable, and local cooking and eating.

The book is comprised of fifty recipes for bite-sized cookies, or biscotti, and includes five categories: Milk and Wine; Nuts; Honey, Citrus, and Spice; Meringue; and Chocolate.  There are recipes for cookies to be eaten throughout the day – for dipping into caffe latte in the morning, for after lunch (or dinner) dips into vino dolce, or dessert wine, or to eat with a mid-afternoon espresso.  While the original biscotti di Prato recipe used only almonds, modern recipes now include other types of seeds and nuts like pine nuts, sesame seeds, walnuts, and almonds; dried fruit; herbs and spices are added too; flavorings like extracts and liqueurs are also used.

The recipes in ‘Biscotti’ use these and more.  There are even recipes for ladyfingers, macaroons, and snickerdoodles.  To appease homesick American students the kitchen created peanut butter cookies – not a cookie an Italian would normally eat.  This is an interesting cookbook from a unique organization.  It could easily be too esoteric but it’s not; it’s the opposite – down-to-earth and accessible.  The recipes are easy to follow, and they work.  The end result is the best proof of the book’s success: it’s almost impossible to stop popping these bite-sized cookies into one’s mouth.  It will be interesting to see what the Academy and the Rome Sustainable Food Project come up with next.

Buon appetito!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1 – Wednesday, January 26, 2011 ~ Farm Dinner at Fig Restaurant in Santa Monica, California.  A menu based on produce from Garcia Organic Farm.  Garcia Organic Farm grows 40 – 50 varieties of citrus, avocados, and deciduous fruit.  Chef Ray Garcia created a menu using produce from the farm.

#2 – Mini-Reviews: There are two other cookbooks I’ve received recently that I want to give shout outs to ~ ‘Simple Comforts: 50 Heartwarming Recipes’ by Sur La Table.  Easy-breezy, comfort food recipes for everyday cooking.  Herb Corn Bread.  Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Chicken Pot Pie.  Classic Extra Macaroni and Cheese ~ and more!  ‘I Love Bacon’ by Jayne Rockmill.  Who doesn’t?  This book contains 50 recipes from chefs across the country.  Recipes to make your own bacon, followed by recipes for brunch to dessert ~ all using bacon.  A portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to Share Our Strength and Food Bank for New York City.

My Status: Summer has temporarily returned to So Cal ~ temperatures in the 80s.  Time to run through the sprinklers again, with more blogging, more cooking, and more eating always on the horizon.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

A galette des Rois. Image from iStockphoto.com

As I, or maybe I should say ‘we,’ ease into the New Year I thought I’d write my first post of 2011 as a type of continuation from the last one: Joyeux Noël.  An extension of the holidays, if you will.  The French do it so why can’t I?  The last post was all about the amazing Christmas eve, or réveillon as they say in French, that I experienced while living in France.  As I found out while living there, the French don’t stop celebrating the holiday: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and finally on January the 6th they celebrate the Epiphany — by eating a galette des rois!

The Epiphany

I also mentioned in the prior post that I am neither Catholic nor was I raised religiously so when I first heard that the galette was to celebrate the Epiphany I had no idea what that meant.  Now I do know, and for those of you who also may not know, here’s a brief explanation: it’s a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.  The holiday traditionally falls on January 6th but in France it may also be celebrated on January 1st, or the first Sunday in January.  For the entire month of January the galettes and gâteaus are found in pastry shops throughout France.  Celebrated the world over in many and varying ways, Western Christians use the holiday to commemorate the visitation of the three Magi (also known as wise men, or kings) to the Baby Jesus.

The Galette

Also referred to as ‘king cake,’ there are actually two versions in France.  In the south of France, it’s called a gâteau des Rois, and is made of brioche in the shape of a ring, flavored with the essence of orange flowers and covered with sugar and fruit confit.  In northern France it’s called a galette des Rois, and is made with puff pastry and frangipane, or almond paste.  The cakes are made to draw the three kings to the Epiphany, and each one holds a hidden trinket, originally a fava bean.  The person who finds the trinket (usually a porcelain, or plastic figurine of a king) in their slice of cake is crowned ‘king’ (or ‘queen’) for a day.

A trinket poking out of a galette des Rois. Image from iStockphoto.com

King for a Day

Since I was living in Alsace which is in northern France, we ate a galette des Rois not a gâteau. Of course, the children in my care were very excited about finding the trinket, and becoming king for a day.  Most households use a simple paper crown that the winner wears.  I don’t believe it was a school holiday that day, as I recall when the children returned from school we all sat at the kitchen table and sliced up the galette.  One of the children found the trinket and was crowned king.  I became a big fan of almond paste when I lived in France as it’s often used in pastries and desserts.  Once I tasted my first galette I was hooked, it fast became a favorite sweet.  Puff pastry and almond paste; a simple yet-oh-so-satisfying combination.  Just be careful you don’t chip a tooth, or swallow a plastic figurine.  But if you do, at least you’ll have the consolation of being king for a day.

A Louisiana-style King Cake. Image from iStockphoto.com

Even for Mardi Gras!

I should add here that there is a king cake tradition that takes place in Louisiana, and parts of the American south; a tradition that I growing up in California was unaware of.  The cakes are made and eaten during Mardi Gras not in celebration of the Epiphany.  However, the origins of the tradition can still be traced back to French colonists; and it seems to me that the ‘New Orleans King Cake’ is much like the southern French gâteau — a cinnamon-roll like cake interior with sugary icing, and traditional Mardi Gras colored icing and sprinkles on the outside.  There are also many variations of this cake throughout the region.  One rule is the same no matter what: if you get the trinket (usually a plastic Baby Jesus) you must provide the next king cake, or host the next Mardi Gras party.

Celebrating the Epiphany, and eating the galette, was a fun coda to a wonderful holiday season.  As I learned during my year in France, these holidays may have religious overtones but the most important aspect to them was being with family, (and eating, of course!)  My memories of my time in France are among my most treasured.

Before I sign off, and say Bonne Année, here’s a fun Epiphany, galette des Rois, fact: the President of France is not allowed to ‘draw the kings’ on Epiphany because of etiquette, as it would be improper to crown a king inside the Elysée Palace.  Therefore, a traditional galette without a trinket is served at the Elysée Palace for the Epiphany holiday.

*A recipe for Galette des Rois by Dorie Greenspan from Serious Eats ~ http://tinyurl.com/29o8edp

**Here’s a terrific post written by Cynthia Bertelsen of Gherkins & Tomatoes on the subject of galettes and gâteaus des Rois ~ http://tinyurl.com/36s358a.  Cynthia writes detailed and highly informative posts on French food history, and her site is one I follow closely.

Happy New Year.

My Status: Snow in the mountains and a lingering chill in the air.  It’s winter here in Southern California.  My mind is still on winter dishes; fun, interesting things like fondue bourguignonne, pieces of raw beef cooked in a fondue pot of hot oil.  Or a cheese fondue, those are always fun.  Then there’s the Swiss dish of raclette, set a whole half of a raclette cheese next to a fireplace, as it slowly melts, scrape it off onto your plate, then eat it with boiled new potatoes, and cornichons.  Or a choucroute garnie, or a cassoulet. Dishes I learned to make in France.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Biscotti by Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.

Image from iStockphoto.com

One of my favorite holiday memories is my French Christmas.  I was living in France, working for the Zundels caring for their four children, cooking and cleaning, as an au pair, or mother’s helper.  Throughout the year I lived in their home they welcomed me fully into their lives.  The winter holidays were no exception.  Christmas in France is an occasion.  Social, familial, religious if one chooses, full of festivity, food and eating.  Le réveillon is the crowning moment of the Christmas holiday.  “Réveillon” is based on the word “réveil” meaning “waking” as participation in le réveillon requires staying awake until midnight.  It takes place on Christmas eve, and begins with a meal that usually involves more extravagant foods than eaten everyday like champagne, oysters, lobster and foie gras.  The traditional dessert is a bûche de Noël.  The meal starts late, nine-thirty or ten o’clock at night, and is long.  Presents are opened after the meal, the children are allowed to stay up late.  For those that wish to, after all the presents are open, attending midnight mass is the final act of the evening.

Carina Zundel, age 6, and a Paris cousin amidst the spoils. Note the real candles on the Christmas tree!

My réveillon was all that it should have been.  As I’ve written before in other posts I lived for a year with the Zundel family in Colmar, a medium-sized city in the Alsace region of France.  Winters in Alsace are cold, wet and often snowy.  This Christmas eve in 1978 was no exception.  To me, a California boy, the cold, snowy weather added to the Christmas atmosphere.  The Zundel home was a large, four story house overlooking a canal.  The main living quarters included a dining room, a large kitchen and a nice sized living room with a fireplace; bedrooms were on the upper floors .  The Christmas tree was tastefully decorated with real candles instead of electric lights.  Family came in from Paris, the South of France; friends from the area were also invited.  The house was full of people, full of life.  Madame Zundel and I cooked a number of dishes together that were consumed over several days of Christmas celebrations.  I helped her with the réveillon dinner.  My memory of what we made, and ate, is fuzzy at this point but I am certain there was champagne, foie gras, and a bûche de Noël. I’m also sure that we did not make the bûche at home.  In France during this time of year every bakery and pastry shop has them available to purchase.

The four Zundel children I cared for: left to right, Carina, age 6, Grégoire, age 8, Nancy, age 9, Marc, age 5.

I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person, and I wasn’t raised Catholic but that evening I did join a few of the other guests at midnight mass.  Catholicism in France is an interesting subject to me as I see the French as a live and let live people.  Meaning if you choose to observe, please do so but don’t necessarily expect me to as well.  Yet in the center of every French town and village is a Catholic church, or most often a cathedral.  Large and imposing, they anchor the town and everything else is, or was, built around it.  Colmar was no different.  The cathedral sits in the center of town.  The Zundels lived within walking distance.  The few of us attending mass left the house at 11:55 p.m., full and sated from an amazing meal, and leisurely walked through the silent streets of Colmar as it lightly snowed.  It was the perfect end to an amazing evening.  My réveiilon was a Christmas I’ll never forget.

Rue de la Herse, Colmar, France. The Zundel house is on the left. Across the street Madame Zundel owned a yarn shop called 'La Lainerie.' A light snow was falling the day this was taken.

Me knitting! Madame Zundel owned a yarn shop so she taught me to knit. During the Christmas holidays, and all through the cold winter months, we sat before the fireplace knitting. I came home with a number of scarves.

Happy holidays and bon appétit!

*Sadly, and with apologies, due to time and other commitments I did not make the bûche de Nöel pictured above.  There are plenty of recipes on the Internet like this one from Martha Stewart ~ http://tinyurl.com/yz88ok3, or I also recommend the recipe in ‘Bon Appétit Desserts.’

My Status: 10 days of unheard of rain in California.  Wet, soggy and cold!  My mind is still on winter dishes; fun, interesting things like fondue bourguignonne, pieces of raw beef cooked in a fondue pot of hot oil.  Or a cheese fondue, those are always fun.  Then there’s the Swiss dish of raclette, set a whole half of a raclette cheese next to a fireplace, as it slowly melts, scrape it off onto your plate, then eat it with boiled new potatoes, and cornichons.  Or a choucroute garnie, or a cassoulet. Dishes I learned to make in France.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Biscotti by Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.

Bon Appétit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful.  Barbara Fairchild.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $40.00. (680p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9352-3

I like books a lot.  All types of books.  I really, really like reference books.  The comfort of all those facts, and answers so close at hand.  But I love, love, love cookbooks.  I’m a cookbook collector.  I have so many that my other half thinks I have a problem and need to enter a 12-step program.  Single topic cookbooks are at the top of the list for me.  (I just bought ‘Salted’ by Mark Bitterman, 312 pages on nothing but salt!)  I like having cookbooks on my bookshelves that I can refer to, that I can pull from a shelf when I’m looking for information or a recipe.  When I received Bon Appétit Desserts for review it made sense.  A whole book, a huge book actually (680 pages), devoted solely to desserts.  Every dessert you’ve ever heard of, every dessert you could ever want or need to make.  All in one book.  My kind of book.

The book was edited by recently resigned Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief, Barbara Fairchild.  In her introduction she writes about how while growing up her family had dessert after every dinner, something sweet was included in her lunch, and how her mother always served a sweet of some kind whenever company dropped by.  I like that.  To me it reveals the sentiment behind this book.  Desserts and sweets as part of the eating process.  The 600 recipes in the book are culled from Bon Appétit’s extensive archives; never-before-published recipes are also included.  Well-known cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs (like Dorie Greenspan, Sherry Yard, and Susan Feniger), and Bon Appétit staff and writers also contributed to the book.  If that’s not enough the book also has the Bon Appétit pedigree.

It’s truly a reference-cookbook — the first three chapters are ‘The Desserts Pantry’; ‘Equipment: The Basics’; ‘Techniques: The Basics,’ at the back of the book are ‘Online & Mail-Order Sources,’ and ‘Metric Conversions & Equivalents.’  Everything needed to make desserts with skill and aplomb.  The rest of the book is all about the recipes.  It has, in addition to the standard and expected American-style desserts, many of the classics: fools, crepes, Linzertortes, napoleons, cannolis, crème brûlées, éclairs, panna cottas, tiramisùs, pavolovas and more.  I was thrilled to see a recipe for bûche de Noël!  Short and to-the-point head notes are followed by well-organized recipes.  A whisk rating system showing the level of difficulty (1 to 4 whisks) is included with each recipe.  An easy reference ‘Index of Whisk Ratings’ at the back of the book allows for quick decisions on which recipe to try.  Food photographer, Con Poulo’s fifty gorgeous photos are sprinkled unobtrusively throughout.  Recipe testing on a book of this size could take months but of the recipes I was able to try all worked beautifully.

I am thrilled to have this book.  There are several people on my Christmas list who may be receiving their own copy.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.  It should be part of every cook’s library especially those who love to make desserts.

My Status:  It’s been cold!  Our winter has arrived.  Time for winter-cold weather cooking.  Maybe something from Julia Child, or Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook ‘Around My French Table,’ or a warming holiday dessert from ‘Bon Appétit Desserts.’

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.